Chapter 42: Motion to Dismiss! |
Intentional homicide?
Excessive self-defense and negligent homicide?!
The people in the gallery nodded slightly, their hearts sinking. Brows furrowed, they remained speechless for a long time.
At the defense bench, Xu De didn't feel any more relaxed than they did.
Before the trial, he had made two sets of preparations.
First, the courtroom debate. He would refute all the prosecution's arguments and rewrite the fate of the defendant, Wang Qiang, changing the verdict from guilty to not guilty!
But this was a court of law.
No one could ever guarantee a hundred percent chance of winning!
Because of that, he had a backup plan.
These documents could mitigate the defendant's sentence to a certain extent, serving as a safety net in case he failed to achieve an acquittal.
So the question remained: why did Xu De feel he might lose the case and need to resort to his backup plan?
The reason lay in...
"Intentional injury, excessive self-defense resulting in negligent homicide..."
At the defense bench.
Xu De took a deep breath. His brows furrowed tightly, an unprecedented gravity settling in his eyes.
The prosecution had changed the indictment, switching from intentional homicide to these two current charges.
This was not good news for him.
Why?
Because a charge had to be backed by a solid legal framework to stick.
If intentional homicide was a towering skyscraper and excessive self-defense was a single-story house, then the evidence in the prosecution's hands was a foundation five feet deep.
It could not support a skyscraper.
But it was more than enough to support a single-story house!
And his goal was to ensure that the court did not allow any building to be constructed on this foundation!
Faced with a skyscraper, he could rely purely on his silver tongue, arguing that the foundation was unstable and the building would easily collapse. But faced with a single-story house...
He had to completely smash the foundation to pieces.
Tricky... extremely tricky.
At the judicial bench.
"Very well."
Zhang Bingxin nodded and withdrew his gaze.
This session was primarily an investigation into the criminal aspects of the case, so he did not intend to let Chen Wei, the representative for the civil litigation side, speak before the criminal facts were cleared up.
Presiding Judge Zhang Bingxin turned to look at Xu De at the defense bench and asked, "Defense, do you wish to raise an objection to the aforementioned charges brought by the prosecution?"
Everyone present focused their eyes on Xu De.
Xu De took a deep breath. In a serious, solemn voice, he declared, "Presiding Judge, the defense... objects!"
He paused for a moment and drew a specific piece of evidentiary material from the numerous files on his table.
"Respected Presiding Judge, this is the evidence submitted by the prosecution: namely, the murder weapon."
As he spoke, he handed the document to the court clerk.
The clerk was clearly accustomed to his habit of using his opponent's evidence.
After a brief check to ensure there were no errors, the clerk handed it up to the judicial bench. The three judges glanced at it, seeing a photograph of a curved, sickle-like implement printed on the paper.
"This is a sickle—a sickle meant for harvesting wheat, and it is extremely sharp."
"Evidently, this did not belong to the defendant, Wang Qiang!"
Xu De stood up.
The moment he spoke, he completely severed any connection between his client and the weapon's ownership.
In a criminal case, the weapon's owner, how it appeared, and how it caused the loss of life were three crucial questions. As long as he cut ties with the weapon, their chances of winning the case would surge rapidly!
"Presiding Judge, according to the analysis provided by the forensic agency, there are three sets of fingerprints on this murder weapon."
"First, Li Erniu; second, Wang Qiang; and third... a villager from Lijia Village named Li Chunhua!"
"This Li Chunhua is the owner of the weapon. During the incident, when the police and civilians were in a standoff, he was standing in the crowd holding this sickle."
"So, how did this sickle go from Li Chunhua's hands into Li Erniu's hands, and ultimately end up disemboweling Li Erniu?"
"The reason lies in what happened during the incident."
"While the defendant, Wang Qiang, was exercising his right to legitimate self-defense, he enraged the deceased, Li Erniu."
"Subsequently, in a state of extreme agitation and fury, Li Erniu snatched the sickle from Li Chunhua's hands, intending to harm the defendant!"
Suddenly, Xu De's eyes turned sharp, his tone carrying a fierce edge.
"At that moment, forced to protect himself, the defendant could only defend passively!"
"What followed was exactly what our side stated during the first court session: namely... the defendant was swallowed by the crowd, and when the dust settled, the victim, Li Erniu, was already dead!"
"Presiding Judge, members of the tribunal."
"Wang Qiang's actions completely align with Article 20 of the Criminal Law regarding legitimate self-defense. Our side moves that the prosecution's charges be dismissed and the defendant be found not guilty!"
Xu De's argument was well-structured, his logic ironclad.
With just a few short sentences, he explained the course of events with absolute clarity. Even listeners who hadn't read the case files could vividly picture the entire process in their minds.
In the gallery, hundreds of people nodded thoughtfully.
On the judicial bench, Judge Sun Dong also nodded, murmuring, "It is indeed so. It perfectly matches the testimonies of the seven police officers."
At the same time, Sun Dong felt a touch of admiration.
'In just a few sentences, the arguments, talking points, evidence, and corroboration all flawlessly complement each other... Tsk, even if those elite lawyers from Yanjing were here, this is likely the highest level they could achieve.'
Zhang Bingxin nodded, though his face remained completely expressionless.
He turned toward the prosecution bench.
The three prosecutors didn't look angry; instead, they appeared quite composed and relaxed.
"Prosecution, do you wish to voice an objection to the defense's statement?"
Prosecutor Hu Guang nodded. He turned to look at the defense bench, meeting Xu De's gaze. The two stared at each other before he finally spoke, "Presiding Judge, members of the tribunal."
"What the prosecution wishes to state is..."
Hu Guang paused for a moment before delivering a highly specific point that caused everyone's brows to furrow tightly.
"Wang Qiang's excessive self-defense is not reflected in his counterattack against the knife, but rather in..."
"...the defensive actions Wang Qiang took after Li Erniu first entered the police car!"
At those words, Wang Wei, seated to the side, immediately stood up and handed over several documents, stating, "This is the official police autopsy report."
"The report explicitly points out that the deceased, Li Erniu, had a very deep bite mark on the back of his hand!"
A bite mark?
Zhang Bingxin paused. His brows furrowed as he gripped the document and fell into deep thought.
What did this case... have to do with a bite mark?!
"Presiding Judge, according to the testimonies of the officers present inside the vehicle,"
"When Li Erniu displayed his intent to forcibly take Wang Mei away and commit an assault, he was not directly pushed out of the vehicle by the defendant, Wang Qiang. Prior to that, the defendant performed another action."
"He bit him!"
Wang Wei spoke. His plump physique didn't make him look comical at all; instead, he appeared quite imposing, his expression solemn.
"The defendant first bit Li Erniu, causing him to cry out in pain!"
"And what followed next is the key point."
"Because of the pain, Li Erniu let go of his grip..."
He handed over the testimonies of those police officers once again.
It was recorded very clearly that Wang Qiang's bite forced the other party to let go. Otherwise, relying solely on shoving... it would have been very difficult to make Li Erniu loosen his grip.
But acute pain could cause a person's muscles to flinch and retract subconsciously!
And because Li Erniu let go...
"At this point, he had already ceased his assault and displayed no further intent to harm. Simultaneously, there were at least four police officers beside him who could have apprehended him on the spot!"
Wang Wei's expression was stern, his tone grave.
"Yet under these circumstances, the defendant took the initiative to strike again, actively pushing Li Erniu out of the vehicle!"
"To sum up, the prosecution believes that while a better method of handling the situation was available, and given that the deceased displayed no intent for a secondary assault..."
"...Wang Qiang still chose to go on the offensive."
Legitimate self-defense had a defining characteristic: the degree of the counterattack depended on the severity of the other party's assault, and pursuing the attacker was strictly forbidden.
Li Erniu had let go after feeling the pain.
Objectively, the threat had ceased, and the police were fully capable of controlling the situation. For Wang Qiang to strike again exceeded the scope of self-defense.
Therefore, from this perspective... whether it was the severity or the timing of the counterattack, his actions bordered on excessive self-defense.
"This..."
In the gallery, everyone's brows furrowed, looks of hesitation appearing in their eyes.
A commotion rippled through the audience, and a low murmur of discussion gradually filled the air.
Amidst the crowd.
"This isn't looking good..."
Wang Chao sat in his chair, rubbing his chin as he stared at the judicial area, speaking thoughtfully.
He hadn't read the case files, nor had he witnessed the incident, but if the facts were truly as the prosecution stated... then a legitimate self-defense plea might not hold up.
Even if the action inside the car was deemed legal, there were bound to be other actions that could be considered 'suspected' overreactions.
After all, Wang Qiang's subjective personal emotions had been far too intense at the time. Objectively, his actions bore an extreme resemblance to 'intent,' meaning any counterattack could easily be debated.
"Is he going to use the sentence-reduction evidence prepared ahead of time?" Wang Chao speculated.
Giving up on the not-guilty plea right now would actually be a solid choice.
It would allow them ample energy to utilize the evidence to reduce Wang Qiang's sentence, at least guaranteeing a baseline defense.
"Let's keep watching," Lin Yue whispered.
However...
"Furthermore..."
In the judicial area, Wang Wei was just about to continue, but unexpectedly, before he could finish his sentence...
The next second, an angry shout instantly interrupted the court proceedings.
"A fallacy! This is a complete fallacy!"
"In both legal precedent and practical application, these are not two separate actions, but rather a single, continuous defensive act!"
"The prosecutor completely ignored the existence of 'imminent danger' within those three seconds. What you've said is a fallacy completely divorced from reality, utterly severing the continuous timeline of the case!"
Suddenly, Xu De spoke up for the defense. His tone was filled with fury, his eyes locked onto Wang Wei.
His mouth fired like a machine gun, but it wasn't shooting bullets—it was shooting knives!
Hearing these words, Wang Chao and Lin Yue raised their brows slightly in the gallery.
This meant... he didn't plan to give up, and was going to keep fighting for an acquittal?
Exactly.
At this moment, Xu De's mind was incredibly clear. He didn't even need to think; the perfect counter-arguments formed instantly in his brain.
A not-guilty defense...
He was set on it!
"Slander! This is slander!"
"Please maintain courtroom order. The prosecution has not finished its statement."
At the prosecution bench, Prosecutor Wang Wei snapped out of his shock. Anger surged through him, but he forced it down.
He hadn't finished speaking, and what he intended to express was absolutely nothing like what the defense claimed. He immediately said in a deep voice, "Defense, you are taking things out of context!"
Unexpectedly, Xu De had absolutely no intention of engaging in a back-and-forth with him.
"Presiding Judge."
Xu De ignored the prosecutor's furious gaze and turned to look at Presiding Judge Zhang Bingxin.
"The prosecution's statement consists entirely of personal exaggeration, subjective assumptions, and non-objective information. It is completely inconsistent with the facts!"
"Therefore, the defense files a motion to..."
"...dismiss all charges brought by the prosecution against the defendant, Wang Qiang!"
All at once, an atmosphere of intense confrontation enveloped the courtroom.
At the same time, a thick scent of gunpowder—exhilarating, causing adrenaline to surge and blood to boil—instantly filled Courtroom One.